Magic 118, Knicks 103: Bombs away — 65 three point attempts between the two teams. It’s only a bad shot if you can’t hit it, and tonight everybody could hit it, with the teams shooting 47.7 percent on those threes. Defense, sheefense. The Magic win this one handily (up by 14 after the first) because they had he inside to go with the outside. Earl Baron has been nice, but Dwight Howard is niiiiiiice — 25 points on 11 of 14, plus 13 boards.

Great post-game quote from Stan Van Gundy: “When it’s that easy to score, it’s just very difficult to get guys to really get down and defend hard.”

Bucks 95, Sixers 90: The Bucks were the wire-to-wire winners, Milwaukee jumped out to a 9-0 lead and never trailed. But they almost did. They let the Sixers get close because they let them run too much — the Sixers can finish on the break. But with the game on the line the Bucks defended well, forcing Jrue Holliday into a tough three that he missed badly.

That is four in a row for the Bucks without Bogut. This team will not fold. They will not go quietly in the first round.

Hawks 107, Raptors 101: The Hawks came out flat and put up just 14 in the first quarter. Then they got going, the Raptors played their usual defense (read: nonexistent) and the Hawks had 45 in the second quarter. They never trailed after that. Maybe the big stat in this one — without Bosh the Raptors could not control the glass, and the Hawks grabbed the offensive rebound on 37.5 percent of their missed shots.

Lakers 97, Timberwolves 88: Talent wins out in this league, and in a pretty uninspiring game the Lakers had a lot more of it. It was the Lakers much-maligned bench that was the difference, they broke this game open with a defense that created turnovers, then converted those into easy scores. The Lakers looked tired (back-to-back) and settled for jumpers all night, but they hit enough to win. And do it while Kobe sat (and Andrew Bynum, and the Wolves Al Jefferson).

This win made it official that the Lakers win the Western Conference. Again.

Wizards 106, Celtics 96: There is wailing and gnashing of teeth right now in Boston. This was not just a bad performance by the team right before the playoffs, it was maybe their worst of the season. Washington dominated this one from the outset. Dominated. Andray Blatche did whatever he wanted inside — he punked Kevin Garnett for an offensive board at one point — and finished with 31. Boston shot 30 percent in the first half and trailed 52-31 at the break. Dominated.

The fourth made it close. Washington started turning it over and Boston cut the lead down, but never came all the way back.

Pacers 116, Cavaliers 113: We have a Sebastian Telfair sighting — he had 21 on 8 of 14 shooting. The Cavaliers rested four starters and almost won this one. You can decide for yourself if that says Cleveland is deep or the Pacers just suck.

Pistons 106, Heat 99: Ben Gordon can shoot the rock — 39 points, 7 of 11 from three. They don’t miss that in Chicago from the two spot. Not a lot of defense in this one, both teams shooting over 50 percent. Not sure you can read much into that. The loss snaps the nine-game winning streak for the Heat.

Jazz 114, Hornets 103: Fun point guard battle — Darren Collison held his own. He had 28 on 11 of 19 shooting, with seven assists. Deron Williams with 27 on 9 of 16, with 16 dimes. The reason you pick up the assist is twofold — you make the pass, then your teammate makes the shot. Williams has better teammates and better shooters around him, that’s why he had more assists and why the Jazz won.

Nets 127, Bulls 116 (2OT): Man the Bulls needed this one. Right now the Bulls and Raptors are tied in the race for the eighth spot in the East, both 38-41. But Toronto has the tiebreaker. The two teams face each other Sunday, but then Toronto has an easier last two games. If the Bulls had won, had a one-game cushion going into Sunday, they had a good chance. Now Sunday is must-win for the Bulls, and even if they do it could be hard (Boston and Charlotte to close it out for Chicago).

Why didn’t they close it out? Terrence Williams is a stud. Flat out. Triple double for the man — 27 points, 13 boards, 10 assists. Another good young player for the Nets. But why did this kid sit for much of the year again? Oh, that’s right, because he plays for the Nets.

Thunder 96, Suns 91: The most entertaining game of the night. Great athletes on display all over the court. The difference in this one is the length and quickness of the Thunder forced 19 Suns turnovers — that’s 20 percent of their possessions. One every five trips up the court. Too many, and too many easy buckets in transition for Oklahoma City because of it.

Rockets 97, Bobcats 90: Two good defensive teams get together, but on this night the Rockets were just a little better on that end. And this game was all about the defense.

Mavericks, 83, Trail Blazers 77: What a circus, the fans, the officials, pretty much everything. This game was poorly officiated. They let them play, which included allowing 1990s Knicks levels of grabbing, clutching and ugliying the game up. They blew calls and did it both ways. The fans saw all this and got on the refs, to the point people were throwing things on the court while fans sitting courtside heckled so much they got tossed. The refs let it get out of control. It was ugly.

Dallas won though because they deserved to, they were the better team. It wasn’t the refs that kept giving Dirk Nowitzki good looks, so he dropped 40. It wasn’t the refs that missed a whole host of threes at the end. Bottom l
ine, Dallas dealt like the v
eteran team with the refs, the Blazers acted young and let it get into their heads.

CHICAGO (AP) —Dwyane Wade scored 20 points, and the Chicago Bulls handed San Antonio its first road loss after a 13-0 start, hanging on to beat the Spurs 95-91 on Thursday night.

San Antonio fell one win shy of matching the NBA’s best road start set by the Golden State Warriors last season. The Spurs cut an 18-point deficit midway through the third quarter to four in the closing minutes, only to come up short.

Kawhi Leonard scored 24 for San Antonio. Patty Mills added 16 points, hitting 4 of 6 3-pointers. Former Bull Pau Gasol had 13 points and 10 rebounds in his first game in Chicago since signing with San Antonio in the summer, but the Spurs lost a road game for the first time since Oklahoma City knocked them out in the Western Conference semifinals last season.

Jimmy Butler scored all of his 13 points for Chicago in the second half. Rajon Rondo added 12 points, nine assists and 10 rebounds, and Chicago picked up the win after dropping three in a row and six of nine.

The Spurs hadn’t dropped a regular-season road game since Denver beat them on April 8. But after a big push down the stretch, they came up short in this one.

The Bulls led 65-47 midway through the third following a surge by Butler, who scored seven in a 54-second span after missing his first six shots. But the Spurs jumped back into it in the closing minutes of the quarter.

They went on an 11-2 run that Mills finished with a 3 to cut it to 72-66 just under a minute into the fourth.

Things got real tight when Gasol nailed a 3 to pull San Antonio to within 88-84 with 3:24 left. Doug McDermott then hit three free throws after being fouled by Tony Parker, and the teams basically exchanged baskets the rest of the way.

TIP-INS

Spurs: Parker had eight points and five assists after missing a game because of a bruised left knee. … For the second straight game, the Spurs set a season low for first-quarter scoring. They had 17 points after managing 19 at Minnesota on Tuesday night.

Bulls: F Doug McDermott scored eight points after being sidelined because of a concussion since Nov. 11. … Butler had scored 20 or more in 15 consecutive games, the longest streak by a Bulls player since Michael Jordan did it in 24 straight during the 1995-96 season.

CHICAGO (AP) San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker returned to the lineup Thursday night against the Chicago Bulls after missing a game because of a bruised left knee.

The seven-time All-Star did not play at Minnesota on Tuesday night after knocking knees with a Milwaukee Bucks defender the previous night. He started against the Bucks after missing two games with a thigh contusion.

Parker came into Thursday averaging 9.4 points and 4.4 assists.

Chicago’s Doug McDermott returned to the rotation after missing nearly a month because of a concussion.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) Marc Gasol scored 36 points and Toney Douglas made two free throws with less than a second left to give the Memphis Grizzlies an 88-86 comeback victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night.

Gasol was 13 of 24 from the field, including 4 of 6 from outside the arc. But Douglas, signed by Memphis this week because of injuries, took over down the stretch. The guard scored on a 19-footer with 34 seconds left, then converted two pairs of free throws in the last 20 seconds.

Shooting issues that plagued both teams in the first half, spread past intermission as each started 4 of 14 from the field. That helped Portland maintain its lead after carrying a 50-43 advantage into halftime.

Despite converting only 5 of 20 shots in the third, Portland actually extended its lead, entering the fourth with a 69-61 advantage.

The Portland lead would reach 13 again in the fourth and was still at 11 when Memphis started its rally behind Gasol, who had nine straight points for the Grizzlies.

Portland had a previous 13-point lead in the second quarter as every Grizzly but Gasol was suffering shooting woes.

Gasol managed 19 points in the half, while Portland got 15 points each from McCollum and Lillard.

TIP-INS

Blazers: F Evan Turner started his first game of the season due to an injury to Maurice Harkless. …McCollum entered the game averaging 24 points. … G Allen Crabbe finished with seven points after scoring at least 14 in four straight games. …C Mason Plumlee had four points, ending his streak of seven straight games in double figures.

Grizzlies: Memphis coach David Fizdale finally said enough about calls and no-calls late in the first half to earn a technical courtesy of official J. T. Orr. Lillard missed the free throw to open the third. …Gasol also got a tech in the third quarter for arguing a call. … F JaMychal Green had a career-high 18 rebounds. His previous best was 17 this week in a win at New Orleans.

EXTENSIONS

Earlier Thursday, the Grizzlies announced that they have agreed to multi-year extensions with general manager Chris Wallace, John Hollinger, executive vice president of basketball operations, and Ed Stefanski, vice president of player personnel. Terms were not disclosed.

HARKLESS HURT

Portland forward Maurice Harkless did not play because of a left ankle sprain suffered in the latter stages of the Portland’s 115-107 loss at Milwaukee on Wednesday night. “I remember him wincing. He was on the free throw line,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “It was late in the game, like the last 2 minutes.”

NOTHING FREE

Both teams struggled from the free throw line. Portland made 29 of 40 in the game while Memphis was 20 of 30.

UP NEXT

Trail Blazers: Portland hits the middle game of a five-game trip, landing in Indiana on Saturday to face the Pacers.

Grizzlies: Memphis continues its homestand Saturday against the Gold State Warriors.